Wednesday 1 August 2012 06.22 EDT
First published on Wednesday 1 August 2012 06.22 EDT

A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the murder trial of Shafilea Ahmed, the 17-year-old who was allegedly murdered by her parents in an "honour killing" after she resisted their calls for an arranged marriage.

The judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans, warned the jury at Chester crown court on Tuesday to put aside any feelings of sympathy and revulsion when considering their verdicts, following a three-month trial. Shafilea's parents, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, are jointly accused of murdering their daughter at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire in September 2003.

The judge instructed the jury: "Discuss the evidence coolly and calmly." He told them there was no special way or secret formula to reaching a verdict and he urged them to rely on their common sense. "You have come here from different backgrounds, brought at random, and you all have common sense," he added. "The way to decide is ordinary, everyday common sense and if you do then I have every confidence."

Shafilea disappeared on 11 September 2003, and her badly decomposed remains were found on a flooded bank by the river Kent in Sedgwick, Cumbria, five months later.

The prosecution case is that Shafilea was thought to have brought shame on the family as a result of her desire to lead a "westernised" lifestyle. In the six months before her death, she drank bleach during a family trip to Pakistan, the court has been told.

Taxi driver Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, denies murder, and says his daughter ran away from home in the middle of the night and he never saw her again. His wife, Farzana Ahmed, 49, also denies murder, but claims she saw her husband slap and punch Shafilea on the night of her disappearance. She claims he told her never to ask about it if she cared for her life and those of her children. Farzana Ahmed claims she lied to police because she was frightened of her husband. Iftikhar Ahmed said his wife's version of events was not the truth but despite her account, he still "loves her to bits". In evidence, he said he had not harmed his daughter and that he was not a violent man.